Hi Guys I hate to lose, especially when I have more than a max. bet lead, so comments appreciated on this play. From a BJ21.com game so bet range 100-1000 and this is the last hand BR1 (Me), acting 1st – 2524 BR2 – 1400 I bet 280 to cover all in win by BR2 (which doesn’t cover a max bet natural for which I’d have to DD) and BR2 of course bet 1000. Cards: BR1 – 10,5 BR2 – 10,6 Dealer – A Neither of us took Insurance. I wasn’t sure what to do, procrastinated, and timed out after 20 seconds (paralysed by the timer) and ended up standing, which is what I was tending to anyway. Surrender was no good and I figured at the time the most likely way for me to win was to stand and hope the dealer busts (I realised that this was unlikely with an A – 16.7%). Guessed BR2 would hit anyway as it was the only way for them to win. They of course did hit and got a 4. Dealer turns over a 6 for 17 and BR2 wins to take the game. In hindsight I think I probably should have hit until I had a hand. If I’d busted and BR2 stood on his 16 the odds were still well in my favour. If I busted and BR2 hit again odds are that he would bust and therefore game over. BR2 was always going to hit or DD for any chance of winning Questions: Was my initial bet more or less right (should I, if anything, have bet more to cover the BJ potential)? How should I have played the hand after? Cheers Reachy
I know that to hit would have been BS (assuming surrender was not an option)... ...but I'd been digging around the Strategy archive and came across a post that said you should never hit a stiff on the final hand. I guess that was just fresh in my mind. Cheers Reachy
Reachy, I would have bet $500 - just to cover the BJ potention of BR2 with max bet. As far as hitting - I would have hit personally knowing that BR2 would have to hit even if you bust out. The interesting thing here is the insurance option. Normally I NEVER take insurance when playing alone. In this case wouldn't taking insurance have caused BR2 to take it also, thereby eliminating their ability to double? Just a thought
The more I think about it the more I realise that I played the hand wrong. I don't know why I didn't just hit it. I was thinking through all the permutations and before I knew it the clock had timed out (damn you bj21.com and your 20 second timer!) The bet wasn't the best but wasn't so bad (was it?) but to stand on a stiff versus a dealer A with BR2 having a reasonable chance of swinging me, what was I thinking?!? AAaaaaargh!!! But hey, it's not the end of the world, worse things happen at sea. Cheers Reachy
Swings Reachy, You lost the only way you could lose, get caught in a swing....other player wins while you lose. One way to maybe reduce the risk was to bet $100 min which would have forced BR2 to DD whatever they had for any hope because the $1000 max bet would not have been enough. But $100 would have locked you out if they got lucky and got a decent hand to DD, or draw the right card like they did. If you hit the hand you played, it would have forced BR2 to consider maybe standing and hope for a dealer bust. Dealer isn't as likely to bust with an ace up, but if they did, you would still have been second guessing your own play about taking the hit. BR2 only had one choice once you stood, that was to hit and hope to get the swing. It just worked out that they got lucky. Insurance wasn't a factor since it couldn't help BR2 swing you, in fact if BR2 took the insurance it would have left you with the low. What you really needed was for the dealer to have had the face card in the hole and a BJ which would have given you the win! Hope the cards are better for you the next time! Pat PS: Swings always are the toughest way to lose. You will second guess your moves for the rest of your life! Even worse is to get swung and then lose a high card draw to a final table where you would have a shot at playing in the WSOB! Been there, done that!
Reachy don't beat yourself up too much. However, a bet of 380 would have covered a max bet natural, without changing your position after the bet. You should hit to 17 in that situation. By the way, how did you get to 2524? That's a strange chip count.
they allow $1 bets so I just add a chip here and there to confuse people (including myself ) Cheers Reachy
it's quite easy to get a chip count of 2524 Hi Monkeysystem What I tend to do on bj21.com is bet 101 when everybody else bets 100 or just match their bets and add a chip to give me that very slight edge. I also bet 199 or 1 chip less than my opponents which admittedly is more tricky but definitely achievable. When I put this post together I also made use of bj21.com's hand history feature in their members section which is very detailed giving exact figures for br, bet, cards dealt and action. Again this is a feature that Global should add to their software to help with post game analysis. Cheers Reachy
